Reading: The Cross of Christ, pg. 260-266
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? bThe bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are cone body, for we all partake of the one bread. 1 Corinthians 10.16-17
The Christian community is a community of the cross, for it has been brought into being by the cross and the focus of its worship is the Lamb once slain, now glorified. So the community of the cross is a community of celebration, a eucharistic community, ceaselessly offering to God through Christ the sacrifice of our praise and thanksgiving. The Christian life is an unending Festival. And the festival we keep, now that our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed for us, is a joyful celebration of his sacrifice, together with a spiritual feasting upon it. In this celebratory feast we are all participants. But what is it that we share in? Not in the offering of Christ’s sacrifice, nor even in the movement of it, but only in the benefits he achieved by it. For this costly sacrifice and for the precious blessings it has won for us, we will never cease, even in eternity to honor and adore the Lamb. | Stott, pg. 266
Stott refers to the Christian Community, or the Church as a community of celebration. How does this challenge your view of the Church and its purpose in the world?
O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!
My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread thro’ all the earth abroad
the honors of your name.
Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease,
’tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’tis life and health and peace.
Charles Wesley, 1739